I have seen frightened cats at the end of a long limb who came toward me, not because they wanted to make friends, but because they wanted to sneak past me so they could get away from me by going back toward the trunk where they could go higher, lower, or out on another limb. I have seen friendly cats come to me, walk away, and return to me just because they were excited and needed to keep moving, but this is the first time I have seen a friendly, trusting cat come to me and keep going past me without returning even though she was clearly comfortable with me. Then, to make it more interesting, after she went past me, she disappeared. I have certainly had cases where the cat was very difficult to find in the tree from the start, but this is the first time I have ever had a cat disappear in the tree after we became friends and established an excellent level of comfort and trust. That is what Little Mama did.
Little Mama is a mystery torby kitty who showed up at Donna's door in rural Carriere, Mississippi a few months ago. All attempts to find the kitty's owner failed, so Donna decided to add this sweet girl to the family. They called her Little Mama even though they had no idea if she had ever actually been a mama or not. When Little Mama got stuck in a large Sweetgum tree at the edge of their yard, they tried everything they knew to get her down. By the time I arrived after all other efforts had failed, Little Mama had spent five nights in the tree, and I was determined to rescue her despite the rainy weather.
When I first climbed up into the tree, Little Mama had settled far out near the end of the limb and refused to have anything to do with me. Every time I asked her nicely to come toward me, she simply said, "no." I had expected her to come to me fairly easily, but, since she refused, I worked my way out to her. Once I was close to her, she decided I was trustworthy and came to me, sniffed my hand, rubbed her face on the tree, and let me pet her. She was clearly relaxed and comfortable with me now, and then she came closer to me, stepped on and over my feet, stopped a few feet past me, turned around, and stepped back on my feet to return to her original starting point. I petted her each time as she passed, and she paused to enjoy it. Even though it felt eerily similar to those cases where a frightened cat would walk over my feet to sneak past me and get away from me, I wasn't worried because Little Mama was very friendly and comfortable with me. She had no reason to sneak past me to escape, so when she started to step over my feet a second time, I wasn't concerned. I began to get the carrier ready so I could place it in front of her, but she kept on walking down the long limb toward the trunk far out of my reach. I was puzzled. She wasn't afraid of me, and she wasn't just burning excess energy before returning to me, yet she kept going farther and farther away.
I turned my attention to returning back to the trunk to follow her, and when I reached the trunk, I could not find her. I called for her and got no response. I searched all the limbs above and below me and saw no sign of her. I leaned over to the other side of the trunk and looked there. Nothing. I noticed a cavity in the trunk where she could have hidden, but I didn't see her inside. I continued searching and wondered if she had climbed all the way down to the ground while I wasn't looking. I didn't know what to do. I can't rescue a cat I can't find. I stretched over to the other side of the trunk one more time, and this time, I found her sitting pretty inside the cavity where I missed her before. When I began to pet her there at the edge of the cavity, she started purring and kneading her front paws. She wasn't afraid of me, and I have no idea why she hid from me.
I held a carrier in front of her, and she rubbed her head on the carrier and on my hand for a minute before casually walking inside. I closed the door, took her down, and handed her over to Donna who took her inside. Little Mama has settled in and fully recovered, and Donna is enjoying a much lower level of stress now.
